18 And let them make haste, and let them take up a lamentation for us, that our eyes may cast out tears, and our eyelids gush out of water.

19 For a lamentable noise is heard out of Zion, How are we destroyed, and utterly confounded, for we have forsaken the land, and our dwellings [a]have cast us out.

20 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ears regard the words of his mouth, and [b]teach your daughters to mourn, and everyone her neighbor to lament.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:19 As though they were weary of us, because of our iniquities, Lev. 18:28 and 20:22.
  2. Jeremiah 9:20 He derideth the superstition of the women which made an art of mourning, and taught to weep with feigned tears.

18 Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.(A)
19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined(B) we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

20 Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
    open your ears to the words of his mouth.(C)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
    teach one another a lament.(D)

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